Hi guys - I hope this is OK to post because I think this is content most of us will be interested in. I have written my first installment of what I call "Laid-back Library Control". Here is a snippet and the link.

One of the most popular questions I hear today is, "how do I control my music library from my listening chair?" There are numerous answers to this question. Some are thousands of dollars and somewhat complicated. Others are hundreds of dollars and pretty easy to use. To me this is a no-brainer. I don't want a support contract for my remote so I am steering away from a separate computer like a tablet PC running VNC or another remote control application just to control my library. I also don't want to run a several thousand dollar audiophile system with a cellphone or a web browser from an iPod touch. These two options and their derivatives do not appeal to me. Call me old school, but what I want is to hit buttons and listen to music. I want access to my library through an intuitive interface that is straight forward and is built for this purpose only. Did I say I don't want to use a mobile phone/iPod/internet browser/laser pointer/calendar/remote control etc... to play a little John Coltrane? You get my point. K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple Stupid.
In the first installment of "Laid-back Library Control" I delve into ...

How would you go about controlling iTunes in a MacMini with a Crestron based system? I have a HUGE collection of mid to high resolution rips on an external drive. Far more music than I can get on my ReQuest. I would love to just use a Mac Mini and would ALSO LOVE to have a web browser on my big screen for fantasy hockey and baseball drafts during the year.

How would you go about controlling iTunes in a MacMini with a Crestron based system? I have a HUGE collection of mid to high resolution rips on an external drive. Far more music than I can get on my ReQuest. I would love to just use a Mac Mini and would ALSO LOVE to have a web browser on my big screen for fantasy hockey and baseball drafts during the year.

Thoughts on control?

j

Hey Jerry, thanks for recognizing that I am just spreading the audiophile word to those interested. Other forums have been real weary that I might "steal" a user or two.

Anyway, there are tons of options here and it depends on your personal tastes of course. I really like the Mac Mini platform for music servers. It can be expanded far beyond any canned/turnkey system. One very cool option that I finally decided to embrace is using the iPhone / iPod Touch as a library controller. Everyone who has done it loves it. For integrating with a Crestron system make sure your touch panel has the embedded PC applications. Then just use the built in web browser to access your iTunes library. There are many apps that will serve up your itunes library via web browser.